Thursday, April 5, 2012

Spring is here, and as our excitement surrounding the upcoming grand opening of Restaurant R’evolution continues to grow, so does the collection of kitchen equipment that we’re eager to get down and dirty with. This suite of toys is stellar, and I’ve already begun testing things out amidst the construction. Here’s a peek into the tools that John and I and our team will be working with when we open.

J&R Rotisserie:

This rotisserie is a tank! Unlike a traditional rotisserie, our J&R is huge, heavy duty, and means business. At the restaurant, we will roast everything from whole pigs to salmon in this battleship-like machine.

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Inside View

﻿﻿The Viking Kitchen Suite:

Thanks to our good friends at Viking, our kitchen boasts an incredible, 100% customized Viking suite. It looks amazing, and every detail is absolutely brilliant. Again, everything is heavy duty with Viking. I’m a longstanding fan and partner of Viking’s and have participated with them in their classic events and partnered on projects over the years. But, this is the first fully customized commercial kitchen I’ve worked with them on. I’m especially excited about the color – R’evolution Red. For a commercial kitchen, you’re not typically going to see customized colors and we’re proud to be one of the first restaurants to work with Viking in this capacity.

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Viking suite

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Back line getting installed – note the R’evolution Red!

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The Viking Smoker:

﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿Part of the Viking suite, the smoker is where we’ll do all of our in-house smoking and curing, including everything on our dedicated charcuterie menu, as well as elements of various menu items across the board. We’ll be smoking any and everything— from salumi and bacon to pork shanks and pig’s tails— in this great multi-tasker.
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Ready to start smoking!

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Test run: 100 lbs. of pork shoulder ready to be smoked

Aging Cases:
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In addition to smoking everything in-house, we will also age all of our meats in our custom aging cases, which feature glass doors so guests can get an authentic look at the aging process as it happens. We’ll feature 25- to 28-day cuts, and everything will be on display in the Market Room.

The Wood-Burning Oven:

Living within our open exhibition kitchen in the Market Room, the wood-burning oven is an especially unique element for a New Orleans restaurant. I’ve used wood-burning ovens at my various Chicago restaurants and absolutely love them, so I’m looking forward to introducing this not-so-traditional element to New Orleans diners. Here we will cook whole roasted fish, mussels, small plates for Bar R’evolution, and much more.

Wood-burning oven within the open exhibition kitchen

Stainless Steel Refrigerators:

Unlike the typical “walk-in” fridges you find in most restaurant kitchens, our walk-ins have glass doors so you can actually see inside. Useful, cool, and very ‘L’Atelier Paris’ looking.

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No secrets in our fridges

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For now, we’re keeping busy finalizing construction, testing everything out, and putting the finishing touches on Restaurant R’evolution, from the front-of-house to the back. We expect our furniture to arrive next week, and then it’s down the old home stretch. Stay tuned to our Facebook page and Twitter feed for updates about our opening date – we hope to be able to share a firm date very soon!!